Day Four - Free Day and First Concert
Friday June 27, 2014
Today was a free day where the kids spent some quality time with their host families doing all sorts of fun activities until we met up for our pre-concert rehearsal at 5:30. The kids came back with great stories of their adventures, which is always fun to hear. Here are a few accounts...
Big Ben, Little Ben and Andres had a great time with their host family, Vilma, Lauri, Antti and Riina at a swimming pool where there were "so many things, like water slides, whirl pools, and high dives." Their home stay also invited Zack and Milo and their home stays to go to the pool as well.
Bailey and Nora went shopping and climbed 189 stairs to the top of a museum. They also ate Finnish hamburgers and took care of some shopping at H&M, a very foreign store to us!
Rebekah, Catherine, and Ko slept in until 11:40 and then they went shopping at the big center. Their host family then took them to a thrift shop where they found clothes for less.
Rachel and Elsa played Finnish baseball in their backyard, caught some fish then headed to a chocolate factory. They also went thrifting and went shopping in town.
Delphina and Andrea bought a lot of candy and then went to a thrift store and unsuccessfully shopped.
Mariah's host family invited a friend over the night before and she went shopping with them. All four of them took bikes into the city center, and their hosts showed them all the stores they like. Then their host mom drove them to a chocolate factory where they got a lot of gifts. They had a blast!
Claire and Abby began the day by going to a Finnish supermarket to buy food and things which was very different and fun. Then they visited a candy shop (Panda) and went to a museum with a beautiful view. After that, their home stay, her sister, and her friend who had spent the night the night before, took them shopping. After shopping, they went over to their home stay's friends house by the lake to go swimming and then go in the sauna. They met her two pet bunnies and had a great day!
Sophia and Kate Brown went with their home stay, Mecri, to a Finnish mall. It was called "Forum" and was very different from the malls we have in California because there were multiple malls in the city center that were tall, not wide or long, with many floors. They actually saw a few stores that we also have in California, which was pretty surprising. While in the mall, they met up with quite a number of other choir girls and their home stays. Then they went to a chocolate factory!
Hannah's and Kay's home stays took them to Finnish malls as well. They went to a candy shop where they tried Finnish chocolate and got some to give to their friends back at home. For lunch, they met up with other choir friends and their home stays. They then walked to a tall clock tower where they could see all over the city. "It was simply beautiful!" After that, the mother of their home stays picked them up and they played cards before the choir concerts. "Finland is so green!!!!!"
Not only did the kids have a great day, the adults also took in some of the sights of the shopping area as well as visited the Alvar Aalto museum where they saw Finnish architecture........ Risto, a former parent of Vox Aurea, gave us a guided tour of the university as well as the town. He was also quite knowledgeable of the work of Alvar Aalto and shared his knowledge with us. He also joined us for a delicious lunch of salmon and potatoes, pasta, and salad. We celebrated Marisa's birthday as well with a delicious warm brownie and some whipped cream.
Later that night, we met at the church Taulumäen kirkko, where the kids gave a joint concert with Vox Aurea. Their voices rang through the church as the audience sat there listening with tears of joy in their eyes. It was a very successful first concert, one of a few more throughout the next few days. The kids were quite pleased as well, which was great.
Their host families took the happy, but tired kids home for the evening. Many of them had the chance to chat with their parents via skype or email, telling them of the adventures they have been having over the last few days. Elsa's mom brought her new puppy to skype with her too.
Marisa, Shauna, Chris, and Katrina went back to have dinner with their adopted host family, Vilma, Lauri, Antti and Riina, and the boys, and had a delicious lasagna with salad. The four of us were quite impressed to walk in the house and see the three boys grating cheese and helping prepare dinner. It was almost as if all of them were hosting us! Very cute!
Bob, Sue, and Suzie went to dinner with Pekka Kostiainen, former conductor of Vox Aurea and his wife Emma, along with current conductor of Vox Aurea, Sanna Salminen. While looking at the menu, they noticed reindeer. Bob seemed interested, and Sue told him, "When in Finland, eat the reindeer." They were able to catch up after a while of not seeing each other and Pekka was telling everyone about a new requiem he was working on, and so when the wine came to the table, they toasted the requiem and Bob said, "Viva la Requiem!" They all had a good laugh. After a lovely evening, they walked out of the restaurant to witness hot air balloons. Friday was the balloon night, and the balloon they saw was right as they walked out was the balloon of the world and North America was facing them as they walked out of the restaurant.
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
